Did we replace Deaton yet? If the successor is a business-minded guy (and not a lifelong Mizzou "fan"), Mizzou basketball could be in trouble. The cash cow that is SEC football would really behoove the chancellor to hire an AD who puts football first, leaving Mizzou basketball an afterthought, as that sport is at Georgia, LSU, Auburn, etc.

They hired R. Bowen Loftin to replace Deaton.

He was highly supportive of athletics in general - and even basketball - at Texas A&M.

Not sure why the Aggies ran him out, but he's generally viewed as a bad-ass, grand-slam hire.

Pressey's playing pretty well for the Celtics the past couple weeks. Another sign that Haith ****ing sucks.

Pressey plays pretty well in general when he has talented guards around him to handle playmaking in crunch time and guys who can make shots when he sets them up.

He was pretty awesome for Missouri in 11-12. A big credit to the offense Haith brought with him, an offense that goes back to his days as an assistant at Texas, with T.J. Ford at the helm of the offense.

Pressey plays pretty well in general when he has talented guards around him to handle playmaking in crunch time and guys who can make shots when he sets them up.

He was pretty awesome for Missouri in 11-12. A big credit to the offense Haith brought with him, an offense that goes back to his days as an assistant at Texas, with T.J. Ford at the helm of the offense.

Pressey had good guards around him last season. He just didn't have any leadership. Anderson had a team philosophy which carried over to the 11-12 season with English and Bowers. When Haith's philosophy came into play last year everyone just started playing street ball. Pressey's offense is set up by his passing game being efficient. When Pressey decided he was the best player on the team he stopped passing to set up the offense and just shot the most ridiculous shots all season. The same thing these players do now. It's glorified street ball, and it's terrible to watch.

Pressey had good guards around him last season. He just didn't have any leadership. Anderson had a team philosophy which carried over to the 11-12 season with English and Bowers. When Haith's philosophy came into play last year everyone just started playing street ball. Pressey's offense is set up by his passing game being efficient. When Pressey decided he was the best player on the team he stopped passing to set up the offense and just shot the most ridiculous shots all season. The same thing these players do now. It's glorified street ball, and it's terrible to watch.

Anderson had a team philosophy?

Were we watching the same team? Watch Mike Anderson's teams now, and you'll see a lot of what you're complaining about, just like when he was here.

Anderson runs a motion offense. That's it. No real sets, except in extreme situations where he draws one up out of bounds, no practice time devoted to offense (this has been confirmed by Kim English).

English has also talked (on PowerMizzou) about the difference between offensive approach between the coaches being night and day. Anderson rolled the ball out and told people to run around and screen and take open shots. Haith actually has an offensive design, with set plays.

There's a BIG difference between having Mike Dixon, Marcus Denmon and Kim English around you and having Keion Bell and Jabari Brown around you.

Brown was not as good a year ago as he is this year (to be expected, he has improved with time). Bell had some nice games but also was really inconsistent and struggled without the ball in his hands.

I agree that Pressey took too much on himself a lot last year and the team suffered because of it. Lack of a viable alternative at PG, after Dixon's dismissal, really hurt the team there.

Just think its disingenuous to act like Haith never put Pressey in a position to succeed. He put him in a system that is DESIGNED for PGs (Notably, Chris Paul and TJ Ford have run it) and he was a superstar in it when he had a better supporting cast, in his first year.

Even last year, with all the late-game folds by Pressey, they were still one of the most efficient offenses in the country.

He should try to teach his team those plays at some point then. This offense is one of the most pathetic offenses I've seen in my life

That's more because the offensive talent outside Clarkson, Brown and Ross is atrocious than anything else. And even of those 3, Brown is the only complete offensive player. Clarkson and Ross both have some big holes in their offensive skillset. In my opinion.

A lot of times, they just run a high pick and roll, with screening action on the baseline/in the paint. That offense is incredibly effective if you have a PG who can dive and dish. Clarkson hasn't been as consistent with that as Pressey was, obviously. It's a simple but extremely effective offense, that's good enough for most teams at the highest level (NBA) and has been highly successful for many college teams (including Kentucky, notably).

It's also more difficult to run good pick and roll offense when the opposing team doesn't respect the screen setter at all. It's pretty clear there isn't a single Missouri big that opposing teams are going to respect on the pick and roll, which makes it easier to close off driving lanes and overplay kickout passing lanes to the side the ball handler takes the ball.

Teams have been forcing the ball to the screener at the high post when Missouri runs the high single pick and roll, which shuts the whole thing down (unless you have a pinpoint passer with great vision available).

The adjustment I've been advocating for to anyone I talk to about Missouri hoops is that in single pick and roll sets, they should use Ross or Brown as the high screener, so the roll man is someone defenses have to respect. This would require playing small and using Ross at the 4, but that would be fine.

But that's not the only adjustment available. We've seen Haith and co. call more different sets. More use of the double-high pick, which is a really good set. It not only creates different looks for the against the ballhandler, but also sets up good trail/double-screen action for off guards trailing behind the play. Also, they've done some nice things - especially against Alabama in the second half - in getting J3 the ball at the high post off of that double screen where he can turn over his right shoulder and drive down an open lane. This should be the primary offensive approach, IMO.

When you have a team that has no interior scoring threat - at all - with his back to the basket, your options for offensive system design are somewhat limited. Last year, with Oriakhi, we saw them dump the ball into the post more often, but for the most part in Haith's tenure, he has had guard-oriented teams. The pick-and-roll heavy offense they've run is a smart fit for guard-oriented teams.

It ultimately comes down to talent. There's a big hole on this team inside. Haith is starting to fill it with guys like Williams and Jakeenan Gant and even Torren Jones, who has a lot of upside (i was impressed by his defense of Johnny O'Bryant III on Tuesday... he did not get pushed around or overwhelmed physically by one of the strongest upperclassmen in the SEC. Kid is going to be a player!).

Haith's biggest failing for this year is not in the Xs and Os that are being employed. It's in the Jimmies and Joes he's putting out there.

That's not an easy task, especially with the way this team has been playing the past 2 weeks. I've bolded the games that are critical to pulling off a 9-4 finish. I'd guess they finish more like 8-5 or 7-6.

Win a game at the SEC Tournament, and you'd be looking at an 8-9 seed, IMO. Lose first game at SECt, and it's 10-12.